Liquid transmission for automobiles



LSI 11,333

3 snezsnsheet l Oct. M 1924.

H. T. HASKINS LIQUID TRANSMISSION FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Feb. 20,

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fjm n K ccamu v Patente oct. 14, 1924.

UNITED STATES I 1,511,333 PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY T. HASKINS, OF DENVEDR., COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRED)D. MENDENHALL, 0F DENVER, COLORADO.

LIQUID TRANSMISSION FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application ledlfebruary 20, 1922.

To all whom t may oom-em.'

Be it known that I, HARRY T. HAsKINs, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Liquid Transmission forAutomobiles; and I do declare the following to be `a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a transmission device `adapted for use onautomotive vehicles, and in other places where a flexible transmissionis desired.

lt is well known that the present gear transmission, which is soextensively employed in automotive vehicles, is not as fullysatisfactory as it should be. Among the many objections, the followingmay be mentioned: difficulty in shifting gears, the limited number ofgear ratios, or speeds, and the excessive wear and noise.

It is the object of this invention to pro vide means for transmittingthe power of the engine to the wheels, which shall be capable of yanunlimited number of different ratios and which shall not require theusing of gears. My system, broadly speaking, emlbodies the idea ofemploying the power of the engine for operating liquid pumps and thenutilizing the liquid for the o eration of a specially designed rotaryengine, the rotating part of which is connected with the torque shaft ofthe driving mechanism. The speed can be regulated by means of valveswhich control the How of liquid through the rotary engine, all in amanner which will be hereinafter described.'-

Having now described my apparatus broadly and given the objects thereof,I shall proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being had forthe purpose to the accompanying drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a view,partly in elevation and partly in section, of my improved rotary 1i uidengine.

F ig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 ig. 3 is a fragmentary viewshowing the manner in which the spring, which Serial No. 537,889.

l serves to open the check valves, is attached.

chassis equipped with my liquid transmiss1on.

The same reference numerals will be used to designate the same partsthroughout the several views.

Numeral 1 represents an automobile chassis of the usual construction and2'represents the ordinary internal combustion engine while 3 indicatesthe torque shaft which is provided intermediate its ends ywith one ormore universal joints 4. Engine 2 is directly connected by means of anextension 5, of the crank shaft, with a pump 6, and this is in turnconnected by suitable piping with a rotary liquid engine 7, which Ishall now describe in detail.

Numeral 8 represents a substantially circular ring which has a portion 9of its periphery outwardly curved in the manner indicated in Fig. 1.Secured to ring 8, .and preferably formed integral therewith 1s acompartment 1() and connected to 1t 1s a similar but smaller compartment11, both of which serve as receiving compartments for the liquid or oilused for operating the engine. To the front side of ring 8 I bolt a discor cover 12, and to the rear side I bolt another similar disc or cover13. Cover 12 is provided with a bearing 14 and cover 13 with acorrespondingly placed bearing 15. A shaft 16 is rotatably mounted inbearmgs 14 and 15 and carries non-rotatably mounted thereon a rotor 17.Rotor 17 is keyed to shaft 16 by a spline 18 and is made of such athickness that it forms a good sliding fit y of ring 8 and the outwardlycurved portion 9 thereof. Extending from the outside periphery of rotor17 are passages 22 which communicate with slots 19 near their bottom;these passages serve as means for conducting the liquid'to the lower endo plates f rlhis passageway serves to conduct the liquid to the space 25where it will cooperate with plates 20 and cause the rotor to move 1nthe `manner which will now be described. l provide inclinedshoulders 26on each side of the inner end of passage 24 and these shoulders serve toguide the plates 20 as they are projected outwardly from the slots 19.On the lower side of the inner end of passage 24 l provide a cutawayportion or lnotch 27 for the purpose of permitting liquid under pressureto enter the passages 22 at the time that the corresponding plate 2Obegins its contact with uides 26. 'lhat 'portion of arcuate part 9etween the points marked-X and Y is part of a circle which is preferablyconcentric with the rotor 17 and is preferably of such length that threeplates 20 will contact therewith simultaneously,` although it can bemade so short that only two plates will simultaneously contacttherewith. An opening 28 connects space 25 with the receivingcompartment 10 and guide shoulders 29 are provided along the inner endof passage` 28 for the purpose of moving the plates 20 inwardly in theslots 19. lt is evident that if 1 force a liquid such as oil inwardlythrough the passage 24, that it will come in contact with the side ofthe lplate 20 which projects beyond the rotor and contacts with theinner surface ci the curved portion 9 and move the latten in acounterclockwise direction and cause a corresponding rotation of therotor 17, the oil or other liquid being vfinally deposited in thereceiving compartmentsl() and 11. 0n the rear of cover disc 13, l secureby means of bolts 3() and 31 a receiving chamber 32 which communicateswith chambers 10 and 11 through openings 132 (Fig. 2) indisc 13. From.the bottom of chamber 32 pipes 33 and 34 extend to the intake ports 35and 36 of the pump (Fig.

a A pipe 37 provided with a valve 38 extends from the chamber 1() to thedelivery or ressure line 39. Within chamber 10 l provide a check valve40 which prevents the liquid from entering pipe 37 from said chamber.Check valve 40 is so pro ortioned and arranged that it will norma ly beheld in 'ullv lineeposition by a spring, similar to sprin 48, 1n themanner indicated in. Fig. 3 an will move into dotted line position whenHuid 1s permitted to dow through pipe 37 from the pump to the engine.When valve' 40 is in its dotted line position, it forms a seal betweenpassage 28 and the chamber 10. Pipe 37 and valve 40 function only whenit is desired to rotatethe engine backward in a manner which will bedescribed more in detail hereinafter. A pipe 41 of somewhat largerdiameter than pipe 39 connects it with pipe or passage 24. An airchamber 42 (Fig. 5) is connected to pipe 41 for the purpose of taking upthe sudden changes in pressure due to the pump in the manner well knownand understood. A valve 43 is connected between pipes 41 and 24.Extending from the bottom of pipe 41 to the receiving chamber 32 is aby-pass 44 provided with a valve 45, and joining passage 24 with pipe 44is a pipe 46 whose upper end is provided with a check valve 47 which isadapted to close the entrance to pipe 46 when the fluid iows throughpassage 24 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, and whichis biased to the dotted line position by means of a spring 48 (Fig. 3).'

The pump shown in Fi 4 is of the double opposed cylinder type avingkpistons 49 and 50 connected` by means of connecting rods 51 and 52respectively, with the crank pin 53 which rotates in a closed chamber 54adapted to contain a lubricant. At the ends of portions 55 and 56 areintake valves 57 and 58 and exhaust Valves 59 and 60. When the pump isin operation, oil from chamber 32'will be sucked into the cylindersthrough pipes 33 and 34 and expelled from the pump into pipe 39 fromwhich it will flow through pipe 41 through valve 43 and passage 24 intothe chamber 25 of the rotary iuid engine. The oil or liquid' iiowing inthe direction of the arrow through passage 24 will close the check valve47 and prevent the oil from flowing through pipe Q46. As the oil isforced into the en ine through passage 24, it will cause the p ates 2()to move 1n a counterclockwise direction. rlhe oil will linally bedischarged into the passage 28 and chamber 10 from which it will enterchamber 32 and return to the pump through pipes 33 and 34. 'From theabove, it is readily apparent in what manner the power developed by theinternal combustion engine 2 will be i transmitted by means of the oilto the rotary liquid engine. In order to change the relative rate ofrotation between the engine 2 and the rotary liquid engine, I haveprovided a valve 45 which controls the by-pass 44. lf valve 45 isclosed, all of the oil will pass through the passage 24 and throughspace llO even if the pump is running at full speed. In the manner justdescribed, any desired ratio of rotation may be obtained by merelyadjusting the valve 45. I have shown vvalves 38, 43 and 45 as providedwith handles 61, suitable for hand operation, but it is my intention toprovide means whereby these valves may be operated from the steeringwheel or by some conveniently located lever which has not been shown, asit must be specially designed for each separate machine. When itisdesired to run the machine backwards, the operator opens valve 38 andcloses valve 43; the oil will then pass from pipe 39 downwardly throughpipe 37 and enter passage 28 through the check valve 40, which will bemoved by the oil into the dotted line position so as to close theentrance to chambers 10 and 32. The oil will then be forced upwardly andthrough the chamber 25 whereby the rotor 17 will be moved in a clockwisedirection. The oil will then flow into assage 24 in a direction oppositeto that mdicated by the arrow. When valve 38 is closed, a spring similartospring 48 and connected to the valve 40 in the same manner as spring48 is connected to valve 47, will return it to full line position. The

check valve 47 will be moved into thedotted Vand 44. The speed at whichthe backing takes place can be controlled by means of valve in the samemanner as when the machine is drawn in a forward direction. My pump androtary liquid engine are secured to the automobile chassis in thelocation shown in Fig. 6 by means of suitable hangers which have notbeen shown.

I have shown and described a pump which I consider to be well adaptedfor the use,

`but it is evident that almost any type of pump can be employed and Idesire that my disclosure in regard to the same shall be considered inan illustrative sense only.

From the above description, it is apparent that I have devised a liquidtransmission which is especially well adapted to be applied to anautomobile of any ordinary construction and by means of which the powerdeveloped by the engine can be transmitted to the wheels of the vehicleat a high efficiency, and which at the same time is capable of an almostinfinite number of speed ratios, both in the forward and the reversedirection.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. Incombination, a pump provided with said passageways, a valve in saidfirst mentioned passageway between said by-pass and the intake port ofthe engine, a valve controlling the opening through said by-pass, a pipeopening into said iirst mentioned passageway between the valve thereinand the intake port of the engine, said pipe opening into said by-passbetween the valve' therein and the second named passageway, a checkvalve in said pipe, a passage:-u

way connecting the delivery ports of the pump to the exhaust port of theengine and a valve in said passageway.

2. In combination a pump having intake anddelivery ports, a rotaryengine adapted to be operated by a liquid under pressure; said enginehaving a rotor, an intake port, an exhaust port anda chamber forreceiving the liquid after it has passed through the engine, apassageway between the delivery ports of the pump and the intake port ofthe engine, passageways joining the intake ports 0f the pump and thereceiving chamber of the engine, a by-pass connecting the passageways, avalve in the first mentioned passage way between the by-pass connectionand the intake port of the' engine, a valve in said bypass forcontrolling the same, a pipe extending kfrom the first passageway at apoint between the valve therein and the intake port of the engine to thereceiving chamber, a check valve within the intake port of the engineand adapted to close the end of said pipe when liquid flows into theintake port and to open said pipe and close fthe first mentionedpassageway when the liquid flows from the intake port of the engine, apipe connecting the first mentioned passageway with the exhaust port ofthe engine, a valve in said last named pipe and a check valve in theexhaust portof the engine, said last named checkvalve being adapted toclose the end of said last named pipeagainst entry thereinto of liquidfrom the exhaust port and to close the passageway between said exhaustport and the receiving chamber when liquid flows from the firstmentioned passageway through the last mentioned pipe and into theexhaust port.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature.

HARRY T. HASKINS.

